Post by Arynielle on May 26, 2011 16:17:17 GMT -8
As many of you have noticed, I'm back! It's been a rough year, though a lot of good things have happened as well. Now that I have time to post and stuff, let me elaborate.
This was my first year as a Resident Assistant at my university. For those of you who don't know, Resident Assistants (or RAs) are the ones who supervise residents on campus, essentially making sure that they don't do anything stupid (like drown in their own vomit), while providing an enriching environment conducive to learning. In turn, we RAs have our room and board costs covered and a pretty substantial meal plan (and a few other minor benefits that don't really matter).
Little did I know that this job would be a time sucker. Like, seriously. I did not anticipate dedicating so much time to being an RA. It seemed so simple when I first applied... it's not.
The hours every week are countless because a lot of the stuff you do as an RA doesn't seem like it should be part of the job, though it is. Small things like talking with the residents, building relationships with them, helping them with their homework... it's all stuff that you're supposed to do, but you don't get paid hourly. Then there are the weekly meetings, the duty shifts, taking care of people who are locked out at night, the one on ones, the programing, the in-services, etc. I also volunteered to be the adviser on Hall Council. That added two meetings to every week and a ton of events. Go me.
This is the main reason why I haven't been posting during the year.
The other reason why I haven't been updating is because I found myself a boyfriend. Although I couldn't technically date him during the year because he was one of my residents, it's all working out now, thank God. The year is over; he is no longer my resident, so we can officially date. Of course, we haven't made it publicly official yet, but we'll probably do that at the beginning of the next academic year.
ANYWAY. You probably don't care about my love life.
SO. Onto more important things. My grandmother passed away this spring, which kinda threw me for a loop. She lived in Taiwan, so I flew there and back in a span of five days (which is hectic because travel itself is about a full day, counting the wait between flight transfers and such). Lots of jetlag and emotion for spring break, let me tell you. Interesting experience flying half way around the world and back by myself, though. I got stuck in LA for a night coming back and wasn't happy about it because classes began the next day. Good life experience, I suppose?
Other than being an RA and Hall Council Co-Adviser and taking care of the boyfriend situation, I also dedicated a lot of time to classes. I plan on graduating with Honors, so I spend a lot of time on course work. This past year, I applied for the business college through direct admission (one of the perks of being an honors student) and received my letter of admission not too long ago.
The person who interviewed me also lavished me with tons of praised, saying that I was probably one of the best people he had ever interviewed for anything (which is a huge compliment since he interviews people for a living).
I then applied for the most competitive scholarship at this business school and was named as one of the 2011-2012 recipients-- that's $10,000 a year. Of course, this scholarship also comes with a cost as I now have to attend meetings and events hosted by the college, but that's okay. I work very little for this $10,000.
I was selected as a member of the Honors Mentors Association, which I'm excited about for next year. Also, I applied for and received membership to an RA honorary, which only accepts 10% of the most involved RAs on campus. I was given the highest evaluation from my supervisor out of all of my staff members-- a very awesome achievement since this is my first year as an RA.
The last awesome piece of news is that I was selected to be an RA in my hall of choice for next year. It's a new Honors Hall; the construction will finish this summer, and I get to live in an untouched, super sustainable hall! I'm totally psyched. Oh, and my boyfriend was offered an RA position too (a very commendable achievement, since over 500 people applied and only 70 were selected). This helps him with his financial situation, so I'm very happy.
That's it. Sorry for rambling, but I'm really glad to be back. I've applied for several jobs over town, so I'll hopefully be making some money during the summer, though I'll also have a lot of time to converse. I think it's time for a new skin, yeah?
Love,
Ari
This was my first year as a Resident Assistant at my university. For those of you who don't know, Resident Assistants (or RAs) are the ones who supervise residents on campus, essentially making sure that they don't do anything stupid (like drown in their own vomit), while providing an enriching environment conducive to learning. In turn, we RAs have our room and board costs covered and a pretty substantial meal plan (and a few other minor benefits that don't really matter).
Little did I know that this job would be a time sucker. Like, seriously. I did not anticipate dedicating so much time to being an RA. It seemed so simple when I first applied... it's not.
The hours every week are countless because a lot of the stuff you do as an RA doesn't seem like it should be part of the job, though it is. Small things like talking with the residents, building relationships with them, helping them with their homework... it's all stuff that you're supposed to do, but you don't get paid hourly. Then there are the weekly meetings, the duty shifts, taking care of people who are locked out at night, the one on ones, the programing, the in-services, etc. I also volunteered to be the adviser on Hall Council. That added two meetings to every week and a ton of events. Go me.This is the main reason why I haven't been posting during the year.
The other reason why I haven't been updating is because I found myself a boyfriend. Although I couldn't technically date him during the year because he was one of my residents, it's all working out now, thank God. The year is over; he is no longer my resident, so we can officially date. Of course, we haven't made it publicly official yet, but we'll probably do that at the beginning of the next academic year.
ANYWAY. You probably don't care about my love life.
SO. Onto more important things. My grandmother passed away this spring, which kinda threw me for a loop. She lived in Taiwan, so I flew there and back in a span of five days (which is hectic because travel itself is about a full day, counting the wait between flight transfers and such). Lots of jetlag and emotion for spring break, let me tell you. Interesting experience flying half way around the world and back by myself, though. I got stuck in LA for a night coming back and wasn't happy about it because classes began the next day. Good life experience, I suppose?
Other than being an RA and Hall Council Co-Adviser and taking care of the boyfriend situation, I also dedicated a lot of time to classes. I plan on graduating with Honors, so I spend a lot of time on course work. This past year, I applied for the business college through direct admission (one of the perks of being an honors student) and received my letter of admission not too long ago.
The person who interviewed me also lavished me with tons of praised, saying that I was probably one of the best people he had ever interviewed for anything (which is a huge compliment since he interviews people for a living). I then applied for the most competitive scholarship at this business school and was named as one of the 2011-2012 recipients-- that's $10,000 a year. Of course, this scholarship also comes with a cost as I now have to attend meetings and events hosted by the college, but that's okay. I work very little for this $10,000.
I was selected as a member of the Honors Mentors Association, which I'm excited about for next year. Also, I applied for and received membership to an RA honorary, which only accepts 10% of the most involved RAs on campus. I was given the highest evaluation from my supervisor out of all of my staff members-- a very awesome achievement since this is my first year as an RA.
The last awesome piece of news is that I was selected to be an RA in my hall of choice for next year. It's a new Honors Hall; the construction will finish this summer, and I get to live in an untouched, super sustainable hall! I'm totally psyched. Oh, and my boyfriend was offered an RA position too (a very commendable achievement, since over 500 people applied and only 70 were selected). This helps him with his financial situation, so I'm very happy.
That's it. Sorry for rambling, but I'm really glad to be back. I've applied for several jobs over town, so I'll hopefully be making some money during the summer, though I'll also have a lot of time to converse. I think it's time for a new skin, yeah?
Love,
Ari
